November 2, 1963: The Diem Coup

Ngô Đình Diệm

November 2, 1963: President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam, and his brother and adviser Ngô Đình Nhu are overthrown and executed by the country's army. Diem was 62 years old, Nhu 53. This coup further increases the country's instability, and leads to the U.S. getting deeper into the civil war between the capitalist, but hardly free, South and the Communist North.

They were hated by the South Vietnamese people, for oppressing them for their Buddhist beliefs, and trying to make the country Catholic, as they had been taught to be by the country's former French overlords. So while the charge has been made that they South Vietnamese Army was aided by the CIA, they probably didn't need much incentive.

President John F. Kennedy is alleged to have given the CIA the order to launch the coup, but that the executions of Diem and Nhu were not part of his plan. He was very unhappy about that occurrence, and believed that his job was going to get harder because of that. Little did he know that the job was not going to be his for much longer, because his own assassination was coming, just 20 days later.

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November 2, 1963 was a Saturday. Brian Kemp, the Republican Governor of Georgia who refused Donald Trump's demand to fix the State's Electoral Votes for him in the 2020 Presidential election, was born on this day. So there's a coup that failed.

Among the college football games played that day were these:

* Number 1 Texas beat Southern Methodist University (SMU), 17-12 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Texas went undefeated, and won the Southwest Conference title.

* Number 2 Illinois beat Purdue, 41-21 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Illinois won the Big Ten Conference title.

* Number 3 Mississippi beat Louisiana State, 37-3 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. "Ole Miss" blew its shot at the National Championship by being held to a tie by Mississippi State, but still won the Southeastern Conference title, and advanced to the Sugar Bowl.

* Number 4 Navy (the football team at the U.S. Naval Academy) beat Notre Dame, 35-14 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. The Midshipmen were led by quarterback Roger Staubach, about to win the Heisman Trophy on his way to a Hall of Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys (after fulfilling his service commitment in 1969).

Navy rose to Number 2, and won their annual get-together with Army, but lost to Number 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic, giving Texas the National Championship. Not only have Navy never approached the national Top 10 again, but they never beat Notre Dame again until 2007, losing 43 straight seasons, an NCAA Division I-A record. Only 5 times in those 43 years did they even come within a touchdown's worth of points.

* Number 5 Auburn beat Florida, 19-0 at Cliff Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama. Auburn lost their next game to Mississippi State, costing them a shot at the Southeastern Conference title.

* Number 6 Oklahoma beat Colorado, 35-0 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. 

* Number 7 Alabama beat Mississippi State, 20-19 at Denny Stadium (now Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa. Despite finishing 3rd in the Southeastern Conference, 'Bama were invited to the Sugar Bowl, where they played Ole Miss, whom they had not played in the regular season. 'Bama won.

* Number 8 Wisconsin were upset by Michigan State, 30-13 at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan.

* Number 9 Ohio State beat Iowa, 7-3 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

* Number 10 Pittsburgh beat Syracuse, 35-27 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* Nebraska, then unranked, beat Missouri, 13-12 at Memorial Stadium (now Faurot Field) in Columbia, Missouri. Nebraska went on to beat Oklahoma, which gave them the Big Eight Conference title. They went to the Orange Bowl, and beat Auburn.

* The University of Washington, then unranked, beat the University of Southern California (USC), 22-7 at Husky Stadium in Seattle. Washington won the title in the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU, a precursor to the Pacific-Twelve), but lost the Rose Bowl to Illinois.

* Army beat Air Force, 14-10 at a neutral site -- appropriately enough, the old Soldier Field in Chicago before, 76,660 fans.

* Among New Jersey teams, Rutgers beat Boston University, 21-6 at the old Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway; and Princeton beat Brown, 34-13 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Baltimore Bullets, 123-105 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Detroit Pistons, 117-109 at the Boston Garden. It was just another day at the office for Bill Russell, who scored 25 points and grabbed 24 rebounds.

* The St. Louis Hawks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 128-99 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 118-99 at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco in Daly City, California. It was just another day at the office for Wilt Chamberlain, who scored 55 points and grabbed 29 rebounds.

In the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-1 at the Montreal Forum; and the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins were not scheduled.

Also on this day, the football team at East Brunswick High School in Middlesex County, New Jersey, which would one day be my Alma Mater, beat Woodbridge, 26-12, at an unnamed field that's roughly where the current EBHS football practice facility is now. The school opened what's now named Jay Doyle Field in 1965.

And North London soccer team Arsenal traveled to Yorkshire, and played Sheffield United to a draw, 2-2 at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.